1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to belts, and, more particularly, to belts used in the paper machinery field.
2. Description of the Related Art
It has been found in the paper machinery art that it is possible to create a “press nip” by wrapping fabrics around a roll at high contact angles with a wet paper sheet between the fabrics. By applying high tensile load to the outer fabric, compressive forces are transmitted to the sheet and force water into the inner fabric. The advantage of this method verses a normal roll press is that the pressing zone and dwell time can be very large and the compressive force on the paper relatively low so that sheet bulk is not minimized by undue compression.
The outer fabric in this arrangement, in addition to experiencing high tensile loads, must have sufficiently high permeability on the range of 100 to 600 CFM (cubic feet/min) to permit air passage through the fabric to help dry the sheet, and in some cases permit evaporation of water from the sheet.
While this approach is effective in drying the paper, the tensile demand on the outer fabric is extremely high. The running tension is in the range of 15 to 80 kN/m. These loads are far higher than those for normal textile fabrics which may cause the outer fabric to stretch and narrow excessively and any joints or seams to fail prematurely. One approach to eliminate this problem has been to incorporate steel belts which withstand the tension. However, they are too heavy and can be dangerous if they fail in operation. In addition to that, they may not have sufficient permeability to achieve the proper drying function of the paper.
Therefore a need exists for a fabric in such an environment that can operate under consistently high tension without significant change in dimensions (creep) and also without joints and/or connections that can cause failure.